Rainbow Magic? More Like Rainbow Tragic
by MuffinWuffin
Summary: Rachel and Kirsty are growing up, and growing up isn't easy. Have their differences become too great to overcome? Can even magic help them this time, or it will drive them further apart?


**A/N: Kirsty and Rachel quarrel. One has stopped believing. The other still believes. If enough people like it, I'll make it a series. For now though, it's a oneshot. Enjoy.**

"Kirsty, I think we need to stop."

"Stop what?"

"Looking for fairies. Helping them. Sacrificing our lives for them," Rachel said.

Kirsty turned around, her eyes widening. "Rachel – you can't! Are you kidding me? We've been with them _forever_. We're their friends! If we don't help them, who will?"

"But-" Rachel protested, "don't you feel like we have our own lives to live? We have school, we have friends from school, and eventually we can't just… you know, spend our whole lives together chasing fairy dust." She bit her lip and tried not to meet Kirsty's eyes, choosing instead to look out of the window. She could feel her friend's eyes on her back – it was practically burning a hole through her T-shirt. "Kirsty, why can't they survive without us? Why do they need _our_ help every-single-time?"

Kirsty tossed her dark hair. "That's not the point, Rachel! The point is, we are their friends and we are supposed to help them, not ditch them in a corner. Don't tell me you've stopped believing in magic. Don't you remember the very first time we saw the rainbow and found Ruby and turned into fairies? And all the adventures we've had afterwards? We've helped save the fairies and the world so many times! Doesn't that count for something? Rachel, how can you be so heartless?" Her voice broke on the last word.

"Look, Kirsty, it's been fun with all those adventures and stuff, and I'll never regret it. But I'm just saying, maybe we should try taking a break for a while." Rachel sighed heavily, wrapping her arms around her knees. Why was Kirsty being so difficult?

Kirsty's eyes flashed. "And what if they need our help again? Are you going to abandon them – and me?"

"Of course not!" Rachel said, shocked. "I'll help them if we need to. But Kirsty, I don't want to live the rest of my lives at the fairies' beck and call. I don't want to help them solve their troubles forever. That's not my life." She shook her head.

"You are an _idiot_." Kirsty threw a pillow at Rachel. "Wake up, Rachel, wake up! This is not the Rachel I know. What have you done to her?" She started pounding Rachel with the pillow. "The Rachel I knew would have never stopped believing. That Rachel was my friend."

"I'm older now," Rachel spat, hurt by Kirsty's words. "And so are you. Grow up, Kirsty! Stop living in a fairytale!" She pushed the pillow off her head and glared at Kirsty. "_You're_ the idiot. _You're _the one who refuses to admit that times have changed. _You're_ the one who still talks about fairies at school and gets laughed at! That's why you have no friends, other than me and your stupid fairies! Stop clinging to them!"

Kirsty stood stock-still, the force of Rachel's words hitting her as if Rachel had slapped her. She wished Rachel had. It was preferable to this – this _abuse_ by her best friend. Tears came into her eyes and she made no attempt to brush them away.

Rachel broke the silence. "Kirsty? I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean what I said. Kirsty? Kirsty?"

At the sound of that voice, Kirsty broke away from her frozen position and ran out of the door, dissolving into sobs. Rachel heard her footsteps pound down the hall and the door slam afterwards. She got to her feet and ran after her friend. "Kirsty? I'm really sorry! I'm an idiot, Kirsty, I didn't know what I was saying! None of them are true, Kirsty! Kirsty!"

"Go away." Rachel pressed her ear to the bathroom door. She could hear Kirsty weeping behind the door and a wave of guilt and remorse washed over Rachel. "Kirsty, I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"I said, GO AWAY! I never want to see you again, Rachel! Get. Out. Of. My. House!" Kirsty flung open the door and shouted into Rachel's startled face. "Get out! Go! Shoo! Go away and be happy with your new school and your new friends and-and your new _everything!_ Just get out of my life!"

Sobbing, Rachel fled down the hall.

* * *

That night, both of the girls' pillows were soaked through. They had quarrelled before, but that was because of Jack Frost's influence and not of their own will. Magic had always solved their problems. This time, even magic couldn't help them; instead magic had caused their problems.

Rachel lay in her bed and stared up at the moon shining through her window, wondering how the day could possibly become so disastrous. She cringed as she recalled her hateful words to Kirsty. She didn't blame Kirsty for chasing her out of the house; it was her fault, after all. And this was the straw to break the camel's back. Somehow, as the years went by, Rachel had grown up but Kirsty hadn't. While Rachel had started experimenting with different hairstyles and curls, Kirsty still kept her hair stick-straight or tied up in two ponytails. Rachel had started talking to boys more often, and actually liked some of them. She had even been accepted into the Popular girls: Lydia, Bril, Angela and Wendy, but she had turned them down in favour of Kirsty.

Rachel didn't know what had happened to herself, either. She and Kirsty used to be like glue - stuck at the hip. They swore never to separate and to be best friends forever. Now that was all gone, crushed by Rachel's cruel words.

Rachel buried her head in the pillow and let her tears fall.

Kirsty's thoughts were in a whirl. She couldn't imagine how Rachel - _Rachel_, of all people - had told her such things. Rachel's words replayed over and over again in her mind. "_No friends... laughed at ... stop clinging to them!_"_  
_

"Shut up, shut up," she moaned, holding her head. The voices wouldn't stop. She heard Rachel's laugh and her voice. "_You're the idiot, Kirsty. Grow up! Grow up! Stop living in a fairytale!_"

"I'm not listening to you," she said defiantly. "You're lying."

All she heard was the pounding of her own heart in reply. She grabbed the pillow and tossed her covers over her head. Either way, she was going to go insane.

* * *

_The magic will come to you._

This time, it didn't.


End file.
